Safety razor



W 79 1.. v. ARONSON 1,955,482

SAFETY RAZOR Filed Dec. 17, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l Snow Wot la/1110M? 631 2 7 ALUDZFIEH F17 1934, L, v ARONSON 1355, 382

SAFETY RAZOR Filed Dec. 17, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Val Patented Apr. 17, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE 14 Claims.

The invention relates to safety razors and has as an object the provision of a safety razor having self-contained means for sharpening blades.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety razor having self-contained means for sharpening the blades and mechanism for driving said sharpening means with a movement closely simulating the most efficient sharpening movement usually had by hand.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety razor with built in sharpening means and provided with mechanical means for driving said sharpening means at the most eificient angle to the blade retained in its normal shaving position to the razor.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety razor having built in sharpening means so supported as to evenly sharpen the ertire length of the edge of the blade.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety razor having self-contained sharpening means that may be projected to sharpening position by a simple movement of the hand of the user and which may be as readily retracted from sharpening position.

It is a further object to provide in a safety razor a novel form of blade latching means.

It is a further object to provide a safety razor that will take substantially all existing forms of flexible razor blades.

It is a further object to provide a safety razor having means to apply spring pressure of the blade against a built-in sharpening means while the latter is in use.

It is a further object to provide a safety razor having a novel form of pivoted cap and latch therefor whereby the blade may be readily removed for cleaning after use.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings showing an illustrative embodiment of the invention and wherein Figure 1 is a side View of the device with the parts in position for use in shaving;

Fig. 2 is a side view from the opposite side with the hinged parts opened and the blade removed;

Fig. 3 is a plan view;

Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a vertical section on line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a vertical section on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. "I is a plan view with the hinged cap removed;

Fig. 8 is a plan view with the cap and blade support removed; and

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the frame plate and handle with the superposed parts removed.

As shown the device comprises a blade 10 and means to support the blade in use shown as a base plate 11 having downturned ears 12, 13 freely movable upon a fixed shaft 14 fixedly held between upturned ears 15, 16 carried by a frame plate 1'7 which in turn is shown as supported upon handle elements 18, 19, which elements are rigidly secured to the frame plate 17.

To secure the blade upon the plate 11, there is shown a plate 20 pivotally mounted upon a pintle 21 extending between ears 22, 23 projecting from the base plate 11. To position the blade upon the plate 11, there are shown studs 24, 25, 26 projecting through openings or an opening in the blade, the stud 26 projecting above the cap 20 and being provided with an annular groove 27 for coaction with a latch 28 pivoted upon a stud 29 carried by the cap 20, the latch 28 extending beyond the pivot as at 30 for engagement by a finger of the operator to swing the latch to cap-opening position and by pressure upon which finger extension 30 the cap may be swung to open position as shown in Fig. 2. A stop 63 is shown to limit the movement of the latch.

. It will be observed that if the latch is in engagement with the groove 27, pressure upon the finger piece 30 will swing the-combined cap and base plate to open position.

A guard to coact with the blade 10 while shaving is shown at 31 carried by and formed upon the edge of a member 32 having ears 33, '34 projecting between downturned ears 35, 36 formed upon the frame plate 17 and secured thereto as by rivets 37, the guard 31 being pivoted upon the rivets 3'7 for a purpose to be described and the pivotal movement of the guard being limited by means of a stud 38 moving in a slot 39 in the ear 35.

To provide a slight spring pressure of the blade into contact with the guard member and into contact with the hone 40 while the latter is in use, the base plate 11 is shown as carrying a spring member 41 having a pair of leaf elements 42, 43 ooacting with flattened portions upon the shaft 14, the shaft 14 being rigidly carried between the ears 15, 16 by virtue of screws 44, 45 causing the ears to hug against the ends of shaft 14.

The hone 40 when the razor is in use for shaving is normally housed with its edge back of the teeth of the guard 31 and below the base plate 11. 110

To project the hone 40 to operative position and to drive the same, there is shown a tubular mem ber 46 engaging in an opening in a perforated disc 47 pivotally mounted between the handle members 18, 19 and secured therein by means of screws 48, 49.

Projecting through the opening in the disc 47 and through the tube so is a drive shaft 50 having a knurled enlargement 51.upon its lower end and provided with a drive disc 52 upon its upper end, which drive disc is provided with a crank pin 53 loosely engaging an opening in the hone. The tube 46 and drive shaft 50 may be swung about the center of the disc 47 as an axis either by pressure against the finger piece 51 or against a projecting guide member 54 sliding between handle members l8, 19. A stop member 62 is provided in the form of a bar supported between the handle members.

The member 54 is shown as projecting rearwardly of the handle 18, 19 in the housed posi tion of the hone and projecting in the opposite direction in the operative position or" the hone whereby the desired pressure may be applied upon this member to move the hone to and from operative position. When such pressure is applied with the hone in the position shown in Fig. l, the edge of the hone is forced between the base plate 11 and the guard 31 causing the guard to be swung downwardly about the rivets 3'7 and the base plate and blade to be move upwardly with the blade sprin pressed against the hone.

In the embodiment shown the disc 47 is shown as provided with pivoting bosses 55, 56 working in the openings in the handle members 18, 19, the bosses being hollow and internally screwthreaded for reception of screws 48, 49.

During the sliding movement of hone i0 and its subsequent whetting movement, its movements are guided and controlled by screw 5'7 engaging the portion 58 of the frame plate 17.

To cause the hone 40 to contact with the edges of the blade 10 uniformly throughout the length thereof, the hone is shown as supported from beneath only at its center by virtue of ribs 59, 60 and because of such support the pressure of the blade will not be applied to one corner of the blade more than to the opposite corner thereof, said pressure being provided by action of the spring member ii.

When the hone projected into the position of Fig. 6, revolution of the drive shaft 50 will cause every point in theoperative portion of the hone to move in an elliptical path. This is the most eflicient sharpening movement possible of attainment. A reciprocating relative movement between hone and blade tends to result in a wire edge. Because of the latter fact in honing razors by hand the blade is always given movement longitudinally of the edge combined with a movement forward of the edge, not given a purely reciprocating movement.

Since the ellipses in which the points of the hone move in accordance with the invention have their major axes oblique to the edge of the blade, no point of the blade ever has a reciprocatory motion but always an oblique movement tending to remove and prevent formation of a wire edge. Moreover the drive shaft 50 may be revolved indifferently in either direction, resulting in reversing the angle of obliquity of said major axes. The net result when the directions of revolution are interspersed being to rub ofl any tendency to wire edge and leave the microscopic teeth upon the edge pointing forward as they should.

When the desired sharpening operation is completed it is only necessary to revolve the shaft 50 to the position shown in Fig. 8 and to then press upon the projection 54 or finger piece 51 to retract the hone into the housed position whereupon a thumb of the user may return the guard 31 to the position of Fig. l and the device is sharpened ready for use.

A valuable feature of the invention, not limited in its use to self-sharpening safety razors, is the provision for mounting and use of the very thin flexible blades and the efiieient clamping means provided for such blades. In the mount of the invention the blade is supported at each side very closely to the edge and is there clamped by the arched cap 20 pressing thus closely adjacent the edge of the blade against the edge of the plate ll. The lower surface of the plate 11 is beveled to allow the hone to contact the edge of the blade only in the honing action.

It will be seen that the hone when forced into operative position will be held in the most efficient sharpening angle to the blade and the blade provided with a slight spring pressure against the hone, which pressure is uniform throughout the edge of the blade even though the blade should not be strictly parallel with the guard 31.

The hone it) may be formed of any of a wide range of materials. Among such materials are leather, glass, metal as brass, brass which has been sand-blasted and plated with chromium either before or after sand-blasting, stainless steel with or without a gun metal finish, or fine gritted stone. If desired, a fine abradant suspended in oil may be applied to the hone and the base plate 11 carrying the plate 10 latched thereon may readily be swung to position for application of such abradant and will be automatically held in such position when the finger piece 30 is pressed upon, by coaction of spring leaves 42, 43 with one of the angular portions of shaft 14.

lhe word hone as used in the specification and the following claims is not intended to be taken in its dictionary meaning of a fine gritted stone, but is adopted as a short convenient term for any suitable sharpening material as above described.

Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of the invention within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a support, a shaving guard and a blade mounted thereon to coact in shaving, a hone mounted thereon for movement in contact with an edge of said blade and in a plane at an angle to the plane of the blade, rotary means to move said hone in its plane and guide means to modify such movement to cause each operative point of the hone to move in an elliptical path when actuated to treat said edge.

2. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a support, a shaving guard and a blade mounted thereon to coact in shaving, a hone mounted thereon for movement in contact with an edge of said blade and in a plane at an angle to the plane of the blade, rotary means acting on said hone oposite a point midway of the length of the blade to move said hone in its plane and guide means to modify such movement to cause each operative point of the hone to move in an elliptical path with the major axes of the ellipses at other than right angles to the edge of the blade when actuated to treat said edge.

3. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a support, a blade member and a guard member mounted on said support in shaving coactive relation, one of said members mounted for movement of separation from the other thereof, a hone normally housed in an angle between said members, means to move said hone to a position between said members into contact with the edge of said blade, and means to cause sharpening relative movement between said hone and blade when so inserted.

4. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a support, a guard carried thereby, a blade movably mounted on said support for movement from and parallel with said guard, yielding means urging said blade toward said guard, a hone formed with a plane honing surface normally housed in an angle between said guard and blade, means to move said hone to a position between said guard and blade with said yielding means exerting pressure of the blade on the honing surface, and means to cause relative honing movement between said hone and blade.

5. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a handle, a plate supported thereon, a drive shaft journalled in said handle in a bearing oscillatable in a direction in the plane of the axis of the shaft, a crank driven bysaid shaft, a hone member driven by said crank, a guard member mounted on said plate, a blade member mounted on said plate above said hone and in shaving relation to said guard, said hone normally housed in the rear of said guard, one of said members movable for separation from the other thereof, and means to oscillate the drive shaft and hone to move the hone between said members into sharpening relation to said blade and for returning the hone to housed position, whereby revolution of the shaft may be caused to sharpen the blade.

6. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a support, blade and guard members mounted on said support in shaving relation to each other, a hone movably mounted on said support for insertion between said members to contact with the edge of the blade in position to sharpen said edge, means to cause relative movement between the hone and blade members, and means contacting the hone opposite the center of the blade only to react against the honing pressure.

'7. A blade sharpening device comprising, in combination, a supporting plate, a hone slidable on said plate, means to mount a blade upon said plate at an angle to and with its edge in contact with said hone, a crank for imparting movement to said hone, means to drive said crank and guide means to control the movement of said hone in such a manner asto cause each point of the hone contacting with the blade to move in an elliptical path.

8. A blade sharpening device comprising, in combination, a support, a hone mounted thereon, and having a plane honing surface substantially coextensive with the edge of a blade to be honed, means carried by the support for mounting a blade at an angle to said hone with its edge in contact with said surface, resilient means acting on said blade mounting to press said edge into such contact, means to cause relative honing movement between the edge and surface and stationary supporting means slidably contacting the non-honing surface of said hone opposite the center of said edge, said hone rockable about said means to equalize pressure along said edge.

9. A safety razor comprising, in combination,

a frame and a guard carried thereby, a blade supporting base plate pivoted on said frame on an axis parallel with said guard, a rod mounted axially of said pivot having an angular portion, resilient means carried by the plate coacting with said portion to exert pressure of an edge of a blade carried by the plate against the guard in one position and to hold the blade spaced from the guard in another position of rotation of the plate upon its axis, and means to clamp a blade upon said plate with its edge exposed for shavmg.

10. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a frame and a guard carried thereby, blade supporting means carried by said frame, a blade clamping cap plate pivoted upon the assembly in the rear of the non-shaving edge of a blade when carried by said support, a blade positioning stud projecting from said means through an aperture in the cap when closed, said stud having a peripheral slot exposed above said plate, and a latch carried by said cap to clamp a blade between said cap and support.

11. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a frame plate, a guard pivoted upon said frame plate, a blade support pivoted on said frame plate to hold a blade at an angle thereto to coact with said guard while shaving, a hone slidably mounted on said plate and normally housed in the angle below said blade support, means to force said hone between the blade and guard with consequent movement of the. guard and the blade support on their pivots and means to cause sharpening movement of said hone.

12. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a support, a shaving guard carried thereby, a blade member, a hone member, means to mount one of said members on said support at an acute angle to the other thereof, means to mount the remaining member on said support for movement in its plane, means to move said movable member to honing position with the edge of the blade in contact with the hone, rotary drive means to move one point of said movable member in a circle, and means coacting with said drive means to modify the motion of other points of said movable member to elliptical honing movement.

13. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a handle, a plate mounted thereon, a guard, a blade mounted on said plate in shaving relation to said guard, a hone slidably carried by said plate under said blade, means to project an edge of said hone between the edge of said blade and said guard, a crank member rotatable in the plane of said plate, a crank stud projecting from said member into an opening in said hone, said hone having a slot extending at an angle to its said edge, a guide pin projecting from said plate into said slot to modify motion of the hone caused by said crank and means to drive said crank.

14. A safety razor comprising, in combination, a hollow handle, a frame member fixed upon one end thereof, a blade mounted on said member, a guard for said blade, a journal member pivotally mounted adjacent the free 'end of said handle, a shaft revoluble in said journal, a crank driven by said shaft carrying a crank pin to revolve above the plane of said frame, a hone driven by said pin and slidable on said frame member and means carried by said shaft for manual actuation thereof whereby said shaft may be oscillated about the journal pivot to place the hone into contact with the edge of the blade and the crank driven to sharpen the blade.

LOUIS V. ARONSON. 

